Steam boiler short cycling and uneven/no heat

Steamhead (in transit)

dirty boiler water, improper near-boiler piping and/or inadequate venting. Post some pics of the boiler and piping if you can.

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Peter_16

I just purchased a house that has a one-pipe steam system in it. The previous owners replaced the boiler this summer. I have noticed the following problems and wanted opinions on what the problem could be.

1. The boiler does not run for more than 5 minutes. It either shuts off on low water or on the pressuretrol. Most of the time I have seen it shut down on the pressuretrol (~3psig). Also while the boiler is building pressure the water level drops from the recommended fill line down to the bottom of the sight glass and sometimes activates the low cut. Once the boiler shuts down the pressure quickly drops and the water level returns to its normal level.

2. The discharge of the boiler T's in two and these two headers. Each header appears to supply one side of my house on both stories. On side the radiator get warm after about 4-5 boiler cycles. The other side the radiators do not get warm even after 1 1/2 hours of trying to heat the house. I can hear the air coming out of the radiators on each side. I removed the air vent from the radiator closest to the boiler on the side that has no heat. I could feel the radiator breathing (puffing out and then stop). I left the vent off for 2-3 boiler cycles (up to 3psig and back to 0psig) and still no heat. In the meantime, I could hear the air coming out of the air vents on the radiators on the other header even with the vent on this radiator removed.

The basement is mostly finished. The only thing that looks like it might be a header vent is located on the liquid return piping that comes into the wet return Hartford loop I have not crawled back to this yet to see if it is working. A vent in this location would service both headers. If the system has main vents where would the typically be? Would there be any located on the 2nd floor behind the walls or just in the basement?

Thank you for your help.

-Peter

Peter_16

dirty water was the main problem.

Thanks for the help. It turned out to be dirty water. I skimmed the boiler per the manufacturer's instructions. the water level stopped surging and all the radiators started getting steam without hissing. Some of my air vents are leaking. I think I will replace them all soon.

While I was looking in the manual and the near boiler piping, I noticed that they installed 2" pipe on the discharge, but the manual recommends 2.5". If all seams ok now should I live with the smaller piping, or get it repiped with the proper diameter piping?

Thank you,

-Peter